After UFC 101, Lyoto Machida Not Next for Anderson Silva

After his utter destruction of Forrest Griffin at UFC 101, middleweight champion Anderson Silva showed that he can dominate the light heavyweight class just as he’s doing his own. It appears that Dn Henderson will be the Brazilian’s next 185-pound opponent, but who will he face next at 205?

If you’re thinking that current champ Lyoto Machida might be in Silva’s sights, think again. The homies have publicly stated they aren’t willing to face each other, so look elsewhere.

“Lyoto’s my friend. He’s my brother, and there’s no way that fight will happen,” Silva said during the UFC 101 post-fight press conference. “And also not just because (Lyoto’s) my friend. (Lyoto would) be a big problem for me.”

Anderson may not want for it to happen, but if he continues to run through the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions like he’s been doing, the UFC might not have a choice but to pin him against his occasional training partner.

“These two are friends,” UFC president Dana White stated. “It has nothing to do with friendship. It’s about who’s the best. It’s about competing against somebody else, no different than a basketball game or a football game. If Anderson gets to that point where he starts taking out 205-pounders, I’ll make that fight. I promise you, I’ll make that fight.”

Keep in mind, we may be jumping the gun a little bit here. Actually, make that a “Shogun” as Machida is slated to make his first-ever title defense against Maruicio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 104.

Sure Machida has been perfect through his first 15 career scraps, but Shogun went ol’ school with it when he knocked out former UFC champ Chuck Liddell at UFC 97, showing glimpses of dominance prior to having two knee surgeries.

So all of this could be a moot point.

UFC 104 will be jumping off inside Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on October 24th. Perhaps Silva’s fate will be determined by the end of that evening.